Postal car, &amp;c.



No. 738,846. PATENTED SEPT. 15, 1903. L. M. RICH.

POSTAL CAR, &0.

APPLICATION FILED DBO. 29, 1902.

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UNITED ST TES Zlatented September 15, 1903.

Arnmr POSTAL CAR, as;

SPEGIFIOATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 738,846, dated September 15, 1903.

Application filed December 29, 1902. Serial Nil-137 019. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may c07wern:

Be it known that I, LESTER M. RICH, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Cedar Rapids, county of Linn, State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Postal Cars and other Vehicles, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a viewpartly in transverse section and partly in perspective of one end of a railway-car provided with my improvements. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section thereof; Fig. 3, a detail section showing the manner of supporting the movable floor section upon the endless chains. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a hand-truck provided with my invention. Fig: 5 is a bottom view of the same. Fig. 6 is a detail view of the ratchet device for locking the operating-shaft against movement to hold the plat form in an elevated position; Figs. 7 and 8, detail views hereinafter described.

The invention is designed to provide a simple arrangement for use in postal railwaycars and hand trucks and other vehicles which will serve to facilitate the handling of mail-pouches; and the invention consists in certain novel features of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the letter a designates a platform constituting a part of the floor of the ear and running centrally and longitudinally of the same. This floor-section or platform is provided at its respective corners with lateral projections I), which are respectively engaged in one of the links of an endless sprocket-chain 0, four of these chains being employed, one at each corner of the platform. Each chain is mounted upon a pair of sprocket-wheels d, one being journaled on a suitable stub-shaft carried by a vertical post 6 within the car and the other being attached to a horizontal transverse shaft f, journaled in suitable bearings below the car-frame. The platform a is supported flush with the floor of the car, so that mailpouches may be readily loaded onto the same and slid off to one side or the other onto the main part of the car-floor. The two shafts f are each provided with a bevel-gear g, and

meshing with these gears are pinions 72/, carried by the long horizontal shaft i,j0lll'l1tl6d in suitable hearings on the under side of the car frame. By operating this shaft 1' the shafts f will be rotated in unison and the four sprocket-chains 0 will also be caused to move in unison. In this way the platform or floor-section a may be readily raised and lowered to the height of the upper sprocketwheels d. Any convenient means may be employed for imparting motion to shaft 'i for instance, a suitable electric motor j may be mounted underneath the car and geared to the shaft 1', as shown in Fig. 2, or, as shown in Fig. 1, a sprocket-wheel 7c may be attached to shaft 2 and this sprocket-wheel rotated by means of an endless sprocket-chain Z, which is carried to one side of the platform and passed over idler sprocket-wheels m, journaled in a suitable part of the frame, and up through an opening in the car-floor and over a sprocket-wheel n, the shaft of this sprocket- Wheel being provided with a suitable operating-handle 0, within convenient reach of the mail-clerks in the car. By reason of the fact that the shaft 2' is supported above the shafts f ordinary bevel-gears cannot be 'used on said shafts f, and I therefore use the kind of gears known as skew-gears, which have their teeth arranged tangentially instead of radially. At a suitable distance above the bottom of the car and 011 either side of the platform a I arrange a suitable shelf 19, which preferably extends the full length of the platform a and is so arranged that when the platform is elevated the surface thereof shall come directly opposite the surface of the shelf. The object of this is to provide for increased storage-space in the car. It is obvious that the mail-sacks may be thrown 011 the platform a and then elevated and pushed off onto either one of the shelves p, and after the shelves p are loaded the pouches may be pushed off onto the main floor below these shelves, so that the full capacity of the car may be realized.

As shown in Figs. 4 to 8, inclusive, the invention may be embodied in a hand-truck for handling the mail-pouches in transmitting them from the mail-wagons to the mail-cars. In this embodiment of the invention the platform a is adapted to rest upon the main platform of the vehicle and the upper sprocketwheels at are journaled upon shafts, which are supported in brackets q, attached to the upper ends of angle-iron posts r, erected on the truck-frame, these posts being braced by rods 3. The shaft [at each end is provided with 'a crank-arm 25, whereby it may be readily turned to elevate or lower the platform a, and in order to lock the shaft whenthe platform is elevated I attach one or more ratchetwheels u to shafti' and arrange an automatic pawl 0 upon an adjacent part of the frame. This same ratchet device or .an equivalent mechanism may be used to lock the shaft 71 in the postal-car arrangement shown in Figs. 1 and 2, as is obvious.

Instead of piling the mail-pouches directly upon the platform a of either the truck or the car I contemplate employing boxes or suitable platforms, preferably provided with stakes on each side, mounted on casters or rollers, each box or platform being adapted to receive a number of pouches. These boxes or platforms may be readily rolled off the platform of the truck into the mail-car when the said platform is elevated to a point on a level with the floor of the car. These boxes may also be run onto the platform used in the car, and when this latter platform is elevated the boxes may be pushed off onto the shelves 1) and allowed to remain there until they reach their destination. This arrangement will be especiallyvaluable for through mails, where the pouches are not handled'during transmission in the mail-cars.

I do not wish to confine myself to the precise details of construction shown and described, as it will be readily understood that material variations from the described construction may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, which in its preferred form comprises aplatform elevatable in relation to the main floor of the car or other vehicle to which the device is applied by means of a series of endless chains operating in unison. For example, the platform might be located transversely so as to extend directly across the car instead 1 of longitudinally, as shown, and motor devices other than those described and shown might be employed without departing from the fundamental principles of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination with a railway-car, aplatform extending longitudinally and centrally thereof, shelves supported above the main floor on either side of said platform, endless chains extending from below the car-floor to a point above said shelves, means connecting the platform with said endless chains, so that said platform may be raised and lowered by means of said chains, and mechanism for operating said endless chains in unison, for the purpose set forth.

2. In combination with a vehicle, especially adapted for use in handling mailmatter, a platform supported thereon, a series of four independent vertical endless chains or belts, one at each corner of said platform, means for attaching the corners of the platform to the respective chains, a pair of sprocketwheels carrying each of said chains and mechanism for operating said chains in unison, whereby the said platform may be raised and lowered in a levelposition.

3. In combination with a vehicle, a platform supported thereon, a series of four independent vertical endless chains or belts, one at each corner of said platform, means for attaching the corners of the platform to the respective chains, a pair of sprocket-wheels carrying each chain, one sprocket wheel of each pair being mounted above and the other below the platform, a transverse shaft connecting the two sprocket-wheels at each end of the platform, and a longitudinal shaft geared to said transverse shaft and adapted to operate them in unison, whereby the platform may be raised and lowered in a level position.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses, this 20th day of December, 1902.

- LESTER M. RICH.

Witnesses:

JOHN W. GRACE, JOHN J. MOLLOY. 

